through the bay area. businesses in san anselmo remember what it was like a few years ago when heavy rain flooded the streets. the east bay always has its share of mud slides. gary freedman of downtown walnut creek's ace hardware says he is ready to deal with whatever nature puts out. >> as you can see here, i brought in a ton of tarps. we have the rain gear, anything i can think of that someone is going to need to be prepared. >> reporter: well, it's starting to fill and smell like the rain is coming. another big problem that you're going to have is power outages. so you better keep those flashlights handy. reporting live in pleasant hill, i'm cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. >> all good advice. thank you very much. the rain will certainly make the morning commute more treacherous. the chp is getting ready to help you out. nbc bay area's kris sanchez is live with tips on how you can ensure your own safety.

>> it's just a little breezy. you can see some of the clouds rolling in behind me, and we're dry, which is a nice thing. tomorrow morning we are expecting a completely different story as this system is expected to make for a very dangerous commute, and possibly some power outages as well. people are getting ready for the wind and rain headed to the bay area. danny velazquez of san jose got roped into changing the windshield wipers on his friend's jeep. >> there is a huge difference when you have the new ones versus the old ones from last year. it doesn't clear as much and it's not as nice, and they kind of squeak. >> reporter: changing the wipers, using rain repellent or de-icing fluid can help, but the main thing you can do costs no money. >> the number one tip slow down. number two, wear your seat belt. >> reporter: the officer says if you crash, drive off the freeway if you can. if you can't, stay in the car with your seat belt on. >> stormy weather, there is going to be people losing control all over the place. >> reporter: pg&e tried to get

ahead of the storm, dispatching 400 crews like this one to trim trees and identify possible trouble spots. >> some of the time because of the strong wind, even the healthy trees, they can fall into the power lines. >> reporter: if the healthy trees can be trouble, jerry fears some of the trees near his home can be deadly. he is hoping the owner of the property will prepare too. >> i fear for my house and for my neighbor's house. i hope nobody is in it when these trees go down. >> reporter: now, if you come across a downed power line, pg&e says assume that it is a live wire, and therefore deadly. call in the professionals. also, if you have a power outage where you live, you can call and report it. and request information back. the outage line for pg&e is 1-800-pge-5002. you can also follow pg&e on twitter. kris sanchez, nbc bay area news. >> thank you, kris. let's go to the man of the hour right now, jeff ranieri. jeff, you have a timeline for

the next storm? when are we going to see the next wave. >> we're getting mid and high level cloud cover moving in right now. we're mainly drawing the doppler radar as it scans around. all this rainfall is still offshore that storm center is now just over 500 miles away. so it has some time to get here. so when will that first area of rain arrive with one in a series of storms coming our way? it looks like for tonight we'll see a few showers develop by 11 p.m. but the heaviest core of rain anywhere from 6:00 a.m. into 10:00 a.m. for tomorrow. not only the rain, but the wind, as advertised. we heard cheryl hurd talk about it, also kris sanchez. high wind warning for the entire bay area coastline with southerly winds tomorrow morning that could gust as high as 50 miles per hour. and it's not just a half hour. we'll see winds at this rate. we'll we could see them for four to five hours gusting as high as 50 miles per hour. 11:00 p.m. tonight, it's pretty typical, 15 to 25 miles per hour. but take a look at this map.

you can see the magentas popping up right across the bay area. look at the key at the bottom of your screen that is correlating with winds that could gust as high as 50 miles per hour. as we just heard, that could bring down trees and also produce power outages. we'll track all our storms coming our way up into the weekend, coming up a little later on. >> thank you, jeff. as you heard jeff say, the storm is really set to arrive full force tomorrow morning. we invite you to stay with nbc bay area for continuing coverage. we'll have it on air and online and have updates starting at 4:30 in the morning. some other headlines now. a developing story tonight in san jose. prosecutors are coming down hard on the teenager accused in a crime spree which killed one man and wounded a police officer. the district attorney says it will try 15-year-old adonis muldrow as an adult. he is due in court on a list of charges including murder, robbery, and attempted murder of a peace officer. police say muldrow and a 26-year-old man, his partner, robbed four businesses earlier this month, then shot to death a

campbell man who they tried to carjack. the charges make meld muldrow eligible for the death penalty. prosecutors have not decided whether they'll seek the death sentence. four women are challenging the ban on women serving in ground combat units, because they say women have been serving in combat for years. the aclu joined the women in filing this lawsuit in san francisco today. they say the policy unfairly blocks them from promotions, advancements, and entire careers which are open to men. a major with the air national guard who is based at moffet field was awarded a purple heart after her medevac chopper was shot down in 2009. >> i've encountered people who question the authenticity of my story because they are under the misimpression that there are no women in combat. the deployments have been physically and mentally challenging, whether it was survival training in the woods or being shot down in afghanistan and engaging the enemy on the ground, my gender

has never kept me from serving. >> one woman officer argues that suicide bombs and sniper attacks have blurred the boundaries of the front lines and so-called safe lines. here at home, fighting blight in san jose. some locals are going straight to the slum lords, urging them to clean up their penalty properties. nbc bay area's marianne favro is off the almaden expressway with a look at how the program is working. marianne? >> reporter: well, this is called the via monte hoffman area, home to 130 apartment complexes. and this is one of the neighborhoods that the new initiative is targeting. they're going directly to the landlords to try to get them to fix things like the broken window you see here. a broken down rv, ripped apart and left for months. garbage overflowing, exposed wires. these are just some of the problems you'll find in the via monte hoffman neighborhood of san jose. nubia ramirez is a landlord who owns several units here. she is tired of other landlords

ignoring the blight. >> if the neighboring properties are not kept up, then it's a problem, you know. the whole neighborhood goes down. >> reporter: so she turned to the newly formed responsible landlord engagement initiative for help. united neighborhoods of santa clara county and the neighborhood housing services of silicon valley are working together to get landlords to address problems brought to them by both tenants and other landlords. >> at that point, we contact the property owner, and we set up a time to meet with that person to discuss what is going on. oftentimes the owners of the apartments are not from this area. they're absentee landlords. >> if the landlords don't fix things, then often more meetings are scheduled with city council members, even police. so far the initiative has helped clean up five apartment complexes in this neighborhood. everything from cockroaches to rats to poor plumbing. they're working on six more complexes, including this one that has broken glass and

graffiti. the process is slow, but neighbors say they welcome the effort. and it's not just apartment complexes. the initiative is also working with owners of single family homes to make sure they clean up their properties too. reporting live in san jose, marianne favro, nbc bay area news. still ahead here at 5:00, backtracking on a gaffe. what apple is doing following the failure of their map app. also -- >> i don't like to give up. it's not -- i mean it's not something that is really in me to do. >> not giving up taken to the extreme. a bay area proud exclusive follows the length of one man's perseverance as he turns a loss into a life-long game. and good evening. i'm jeff ranieri in the nbc bay area weather center. we're tracking the storm tonight as it lines up offshore. areas of cloud cover building in right now. here are some of the highlights. rain that could top 3 inches, and also wind that will top 50

miles per hour. i'll have the full timeline coming up in that seven-day forecast. have a good night. here you go. you, too. i'm going to dream about that steak. i'm going to dream about that tiramisu.

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laying down the gauntlet. if president obama wants to nominate susan rice as the next secretary of state, several key senators say they will block her. that's the takeaway from a highly anticipated meeting between rice and senate republicans, john mccain and lindsey graham. they're concerned miss rice misled the country concerning attacks on benghazi that left four people dead. the white house says ms. rice was not responsible for the news points she used on the sunday talk shows following that attack. the disastrous apple maps is now out of a job. richard williamson was fired today. the map app has been blasted for being unreliable and lacking public transit directions. it replaced the original google maps in the newest versions of

apple's operating system. just last month, the head of apple's mobile software development group was asked to resign after refusing to sign a letter apologizing for the app's flaws. the amgen bike race is upside down. it will start in southern california and end in the bay area. the 750 mile tour begins in escondido on may 12th. ends eight days later in santa rosa. another first for the tour, the route will take riders to the top of mount diablo instead of just halfway up. san jose will host the time trial, and san francisco and livermore will serve as host cities. livermore a last-minute edition after the community stepped forward to help the city pay expenses. something is causing you pain or anguish in your life you should get rid of it. that's the common wisdom. >> but for one san jose man, the situation wasn't that simple. nbc bay area's garvin thomas is here with tonight's bay area proud. garvin, tough decisions and incredible results.

>> we often praise our pro athletes by saying they never give up. jeff schmidt could teach them and the rest of us about not quitting. here is a man who took almost 18 hours to complete a single race. and that wasn't even the tough part of the journey. his much longer struggle is tonight's bay area proud. >> reporter: when something is simple, something is so easy anyone can do it, we call it a walk in the park. but for much of jeff schmidt's adult life, even that, a walk in the park with wife jenny was not simple nor easy. jeff's is a journey that began 15 years ago on a soccer field in missouri. jeff was a star player on his high school team, with plans for a college career, dreams of a pro one, until the first play-off game of his senior year. >> my leg was up in the air. and a guy comes in and hits the side of my shin.

i knew instantly my leg was broke. >> reporter: jeff says the leg was improperly set and cast, causing a loss of circulation and permanent damage. for the next ten years, jeff lived with constant pain, surgery after surgery couldn't fix the problem. >> we didn't know how to handle that kind of stress. >> suicidal? yeah, it got really bad. >> reporter: it got to the point one day in 2004 jenny and her mom came to jeff with a solution. one from which there would be no turning back. >> we suggested that he look into amputating the leg. >> it took a few years for me to come to grips with the thought that getting rid of the thing that was causing me so many problems and so much pain was the best way to go. >> reporter: jeff let his lego and got his life back. jeff was not going to waste this second chance.

he hit the road and the pool and trained. and this year was lucky enough to get one of a handful of lottery spots for challenged athletes at the kona 2012 ironman world championships in hawaii. >> it's a dream. >> reporter: jeff said he felt good going in, but rough seas during the swim and a stiff headwind on the bike battered him. the run portion for him turned into a walk. still, jeff kept going. >> i don't like to give up. >> reporter: four miles from the end, race officials approached jeff to let him know he would not make the finish line before the course officially closed at midnight. >> and i said okay. thank you. i'm going keep going. >> he basically ignored them. he broke the rules. you're not supposed to do that. >> reporter: this is the president and coo of goo energy labs, the sponsor of this year's race. he had been taking pictures and soaking up the excitement at the finish line all day, but half an

hour past midnight, more than 17 hours after the race started, he was one of the very few people left when jeff emerged from the darkness. >> we were in awe, really, all of us. grown men, experienced athletes who were moving to the point of tears. >> and after all those miles, all these years, you would think the last feet would be easy. they weren't. workers had been dismantling the finish line, and signs littered the ground. >> that hurt too. i mean my leg was so beat up at that point that it really hurt. >> it did not, however, hurt enough to stop jeff short of his goal, crossing a finish line to more than just this race. >> going through everything with my leg and the amputation, and to be able to come and finish at kona, i mean that was to me, it's one of the highlights of my

life. >> after that incredible performance, some people have taken note. although he was lucky to get this, he may find a way to get in this year. he is going the train extra hard and make sure he finishes before midnight. >> it was nice to hear people cheering. >> his own sports staff. they stuck with him the whole way. >> thank you, garvin. let's bring in jeff ranieri. a lot of people want to know when this is going to come in. it's coming in a big way. >> coming up right now as that doppler radar scans around, we are finding dry conditions here across all of california. but in advance of the series of storms we keep highlighting, there is a flood watch here for the sacramento valley, san joaquin, stanislaus and solano counties. if you're headed into the interior valley, the next couple of days. our biggest concern, at least into tomorrow, not only the wet weather, but winds that could top 50 miles per hour out of the

south. high wind warning in place for the entire coastline. we're going to have the timing on that wind coming up. let's get you into the current temperatures. upper 50s and low 60s right now. not too out of the ordinary. live sky camera network showing us cloud cover increasing tonight in san francisco. city lights looking pretty spectacular and not too bad. not even stormy right now. once again, throughout tomorrow morning, we're going to see things drastically change for us. let's get you into the hour-by-hour future fast. by tonight at 11:00 p.m., we're mainly dealing with widespread cloud cover for the entire bay area. we can't rule out an isolated shower, but we're going to hold off on some of the heaviest rainfall until about 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. that's when it starts to ramp up for the heavier pockets of rain for north bay, the east bay, the south bay and even for the santa cruz mountains and the peninsula. looks like we'll hold on to this first wave of activity through about 11:00 tomorrow morning. then it's going to push out of here with the cold front. we'll be under a little bit of a break here on wednesday evening. that's the good news. but then quickly on the heels of

that, here comes our next storm system. as we head throughout thursday morning, we'll get this second storm approaching up into the north bay with some rain into santa rosa. but here is the thing about this. it is going to be so slow moving here across the bay area. even by 10:00 p.m. on thursday, we may not see much in the east or the south bay. it's going to be another event on friday morning that a lot of our commuters in the peninsula, south bay and east bay will get hit with this heavier and second round of rainfall that looks to continue into the weekend. not only that, but if you're away from the tv, you need to come to it to see this. take a look at our windcast. 15 to 25 miles per hour tonight. that's pretty typical. watch as the colors change into tomorrow morning. 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, and 9:00, you can see the magenta starting to peak across the entire bay area. those are estimated wind gusts that could top 50 miles per hour. you can see the colors correlating with what we're looking at. that's why we're forecasting the

potential for some trees to come down and also some isolated power outages. the wind will start to die down as we head throughout the afternoon hours. so once again, heaviest rain and wind in the morning. so what to expect also with this 2 to 4 inches of rain up into the north bay? that will be the most vulnerable area for potential river flooding. so we're going to have to watch out for the creeks, rivers, and streams in the north bay. you know who you are if you live close to one of those. otherwise, overall rainfall totals not only into thursday, but into saturday morning, unreal up into the north bay. we could see over 4 inches of rain. once again, these are estimates. but it's a good idea of what our computer is projecting to come our way. as far as tomorrow goes, low to mid 60s for daytime highs. and once again, the heaviest rainfall for the morning. we'll look at a chance of thunderstorms on thursday, and then by friday, there comes that wet weather we already detailed for you. and then we'll look at wet weather continuing into this upcoming weekend. so none the less, one of the most active patterns i will say

that has not only happened this season, but probably in about the last year. >> really? >> really quiet over the past year. we've had some storms coming in. but we haven't seen something like this since about 2010 when we had la nina here. so very active. >> we really need to take this seriously. >> definitely. coming up, does where you live put you at a higher risk for breast cancer? what a new study shows about the rates in bay area counties.

in health matter, bay area breast cancer rates are on the rise, especially for certain parts of the bay area. the california breast cancer mapping project found portions of san mateo, santa clara, and alameda counties had breast cancer rates that were 10 to 20% higher than the state average. this data is from 2000 to 2008. high rates were also found in portions of sonoma, napa, and solano counties. it's long been known breast cancer risk factors include

behaviors that tend to be higher among higher income women, for example, taking certain hormone replacements or having no children or fewer children and later in life. but it's simply a correlation and not cause. the study does not name a cause for these increased rates. exposure to air pollution during pregnancy may increase the risk that a child will develop autism. researchers with the university of southern california followed nearly 300 children with autism, and the study looked at the pollution levels surrounding their mother's home when they were pregnant and during the first year of childhood. they found those who were exposed, children, to the highest levels of traffic-related pollution were three times more likely to develop autism. experts say more studies are needed. back in a moment.

jeff joins us with a final word about when the most dangerous time to be on the road is. >> definitely over the next several days for the morning commuters. winds that could top 50 miles per hour and heavy periods of rain. thunderstorms possible on thursday, and another round of heavier rain on friday morning. so any commuters with their kids heading off to school, just take it slow. >> the flashlights ready for power outages. >> potential. >> yep. >> see you at 6:00.

on our broadcast tonight, what happened behind closed doors. ambassador susan rice goes up to the hill to clear everything up on benghazi, but it doesn't turn out that way. the mystery. was yasser arafat poisoned? tonight his grave has been dug up and tests are being conducted